Leadership and social change is not based being the best. It's not about "who's alpha." It's about who stands up for something they believe in. Stand for something that deserves recognition, don't just stand there and be recognized.

The thrill of the commitment can be invigorating, but like any well, it can run dry. We mustn't keep trying to draw from it just because the first sip was so refreshing. If you want to "have it easy" and "just let it flow as it will," then you have to accept that it can flow right into the gutter.

Bodybuilding and strength sports are like the "going to the movies" of athletics. Just as with a movie, everyone really believes something is happening; that the events they are watching are relevant and important...

Working out is neither a right nor a necessity. It is a leisure activity. Yet still, those of us who achieve enviable goals often slack on their human courtesy. In your eagerness to achieve your gains, are you losing social courtesy in the name of social regard?

After the record-breaking snows of Boston's Winter of '15, Coach XN looks at how the hubris of the deeply-commtted takes over regardless of harm to others.

A text message comes in: "I think I'm lacking inspiration. How do you get it?" So, I dust off the old sorcerer's cap and direct some attention to the source of the question. While it seems deep, one answer is surprisingly pragmatic and simple – and probably something we all sort of knew all along anyway.

Rob Kearney did not roll out of bed on October 20th thinking he would change the world. But this particular Monday wKearney shifted the thinking of an entire community and stepped onto the pages of the history of social change in the whole world!

Watch this video. The workshop wasn't trying to prove anything. We weren't even taking a hard agenda that "steroids are wrong" or "bodybuilding is full of liars." We were merely discussing what makes something credible. And that is a topic that so few of us in life ever really breach, much less any of us in bodybuilding.

But that idea was at the center of a recent meeting of the Next Level's Spring 2015 team. And at the epicenter of the discussion was guy named named Doug Miller.

Why are you competing? No really, why? I mean, if you're not competing in a contest any time soon, this question may not seem to apply to you. Unless, of course, you're instead trying to get a better job. Or a good grade. Or jockey for attention of a mate. Yeah, most of us are kind of competing.

Image is bullshit. Until it inspires. Then, even though the image is still bullshit, it becomes some really good bullshit. Recently deceased bodybuilder Mike Matarazzo's image was that kind of bullshit.

Barely-known, self-made, D-tier fitness celebrity Zyzz symbolizes the "permission" for guys to fuck up via their ego-masturbation and get away with it. So why has his name persisted, even if only in small circles?

On the third anniversary of this guy's death due to excesses in partying and pride, the 22-year-old persists as an internet subculture meme and an iconic figure many young hopefuls admire – or "mire," as he termed it. Maybe it wasn't because he has a great body but rather because he represents an entry point into topics we usually are starving to discuss.